FLUENT
Fluent breaks down the language barriers that deaf and mute people face every day, curating resources to assist in the learning and practice of ASL for the deaf and non-deaf alike. Fluent: the pocket ASL tutor.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
For this app, I created the feature set, wireframe, and clickable prototypes for the app prior to Android/iOS development. The app went through several iterations of wireframing and clickable prototypes as I expanded out the client’s vision and that of giving the developer’s a solid guide from which to develop the app via coding.
OBJECTIVE
There are few apps claiming to teach ASL and they are not well designed for the purpose. We wanted to improve on existing weaknesses and build an intuitive way to connect tutors, especially those who are deaf or hard of hearing, to people interested in learning ASL to foster communication and community.
SOLUTION
Fluent gives users the ability to practice ASL lessons with one another via video chat. Users can also access a database of ASL lessons and a constantly updated library of lessons. Fluent’s tutoring platform with a purpose-built social media feed encourages engagement outside of normal structured lessons and builds community between the deaf and the non-deaf.
90%+
Percentage of deaf children who are born to hearing parents.
1M+
Number of people who use ASL as their main way to communicate.
135
Number of international sign languages around the world.
Easily navigate to different corners of the app to find libraries of topics to practice.
Enjoy searching for ASL learners and educators. Hone your skills while making new friends.
Check the profiles of potential tutors to see if they’re a match for you in location, language level, and other preferences.
USER FEEDBACK
Part of my design process included conducting market research and surveys of people who are the intended users for the app. Below are some of their response and how I used their feedback to improve the design:
“Games! Gamification! This helps anytime I’m trying to do something important and meaningful that requires memorization and in practice can be boring.”
I added in badges and levels using gamification to motivate users to keep practicing, while keeping the UI to be fun and engaging for users of all ages.
“It is hard to learn ASL from videos because they are only 2-dimensional and ASL is a 3-dimensional language.”
This was a very important insight that led me to design the app with an emphasis on live video chat, as well as encouraging users to record videos from more than one angle.
Fluent breaks down the language barriers that deaf and mute people face every day, cultivating a repository of up-to-date, informative resources to assist in the learning of ASL.
